वैशंपायन उवाच
षट्त्रिंशे त्व् अथ संप्राप्ते वर्षे कौरवनन्दनः ॥
ददर्श विपरीतानि निमित्तानि युधिष्ठिरः ॥
ववुर् वाताः सनिर्घाता रूक्षाः शर्करवर्षिणः ॥
अपसव्यानि शकुना मण्डलानि प्रचक्रिरे ॥
प्रत्यगूहुर् महानद्यो दिशो नीहारसंवृताः ॥
उल्काश् चाङ्गारवर्षिण्यः प्रपेतुर् गगनाद् भुवि ॥
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca
ṣaṭtriṃśe tv atha saṃprāpte varṣe kauravanandanaḥ ||
dadarśa viparītāni nimittāni yudhiṣṭhiraḥ ||
vavur vātāḥ sanirghātā rūkṣāḥ śarkaravarṣiṇaḥ ||
apasavyāni śakunā maṇḍalāni pracakrire ||
pratyagūhur mahānadyo diśo nīhārasaṃvṛtāḥ ||
ulkāś cāṅgāravarṣiṇyaḥ prapetur gaganād bhuvi ||
Vaishampayana said: When the thirty-sixth year arrived, Yudhishthira, the delight of the Kurus, beheld dreadful omens. Winds blew with thunderous crashes, harsh and showering gravel; birds traced their circles ominously against the sun. The great rivers flowed backward, the quarters of the sky were wrapped in mist, and meteors raining embers fell from the heavens to the earth.
9d85efc42191 · published Jun 21, 2026, 1:00:00 AM UTC
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The destruction of the Vrishni clan is heralded by a shuddering of nature itself: winds with thunder, rivers flowing backward, a fiery rain of meteors. Thus the tradition shows that great turning-points in human affairs resound throughout all creation, for the world is a single whole, moved by one will. The thirty-sixth year after the battle of Kurukshetra is the appointed hour for the fulfillment of the curse that weighed upon Krishna's lineage. The verse teaches that coming upheavals are often announced by omens so as to awaken the heart to vigilance and acceptance; and that the course of time, guided by the Lord's will, brings in its season both flowering and decline — and the visible signs in nature are the shadow of this inexorable march of destiny.